Customer Reviews

Breeders Cup World Championship

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

As far as I know I have played every horseracing videogame to come to an American console, I even bought a Saturn just so I could play Winning Post, and this game is the worst. I had high hopes upon hearing about this game and bought it right after it came out. I was hoping it would have the race and breeding mechanics of gallop racer but with American tracks and races, boy was I disappointed. The other two reviewers have pretty much nailed down the game's faults; it is far to easy, I probably won 75-80% of my races the first year I have played, the racing part of the game is pathetic, you basically just have to gun your horse to the lead rather he prefers to be there or not and you will win most of the time. Even pinballing between horses does not seem to hurt you, if you are blocked in just knock the horses out of the way and go right through. The breeding is also bad, the first horse that I bred with my initial 50k won the Breeder's Cup Mile the first year. I also thought that having some real tracks meant that there would be some other real races such as the Travers at Saratoga or Pacific Classic at Del Mar, but no, only the actual Breeder's Cup races are real. The betting is also ridiculous, I won at 50-1 or more a couple of times and 20-1 shots seem to win as often as favorites. Hopefully they will make another game with improvements but right now this game is really bad, I had alot more fun with the original Gallop Racer on PS1, and Gallop Racer 2004 is an infinitely better product, NTRA license or no.

I was anxiously awaiting the release of this game assuming that since the NTRA was involved it would be a top notch product. All they had to do was take Gallop Racer and make it better. What a disappointment.

The first time I played I was able to win a race right away. There was no challenge to it whatsoever. The tracks are far from interesting and not at all representative of the real location. Several times I chose to run a dirt race and all but one of the horses entered preferred the turf. Pick the horse that likes the dirt and you win - duh. Graphics are mediocre at best and you get no sense of the racing experience like in Gallop Racer.

Looks like the racing industry can't even get a video game right, let alone solve their other issues. Save your $$$ and stick with Gallop Racer.

I anticipated the release of this game for two months and even paid extra to have it priority shipped. I wish I could sell it back for the cost of shipping alone. There is no strategy to the racing just hold the controler down and wait until you win pretty much. As a reviewer stated you can pinball off of other horses and it has no effect. The worse part in my opinion is that in career mode you can "skip" the races you are not in, but you still have to skip them one by one and look at the horse that won the race in the winners circle. If you are racing in race number 9 on the card you simply have to hit "skip" for each race individualy and lumber through the ridiculous fact that you have to watch every horse in the winners circle. Four minuets later you can race (and win) your race. Sound fun? This game makes me so sick I do not even want it in my house one day longer. I will trade it today for Madden 98 or whatever they will give me at the gamestop. I wonder if the creators ever played the game before they sold it. I do not see how they could of.

After being a fan of the Gallop Racer series for the past six years I couldn't wait till the NTRA brought out a licensed game. The preview sounded like you'd be racing/riding the famous horses of today. WRONG. I think I played for two days and I haven't touched it since. You have to skip through every single race on every single day which takes forever. I have certain horses that will win every time by daylight which is too easy. There's no challenge. You can beat the stars you unlock easy. I beat Citation (Triple Crown winner and one of the greatest of all time) with a random game horse. Save your money and go for a game in the Gallop Racer Series (I recommend 2003).

I found this game on a shelf at a store, and thought it looked ok for my daughter. I brought it home and on the first day she had won almost all the stake cups, had over $10.5 million in the career mode, and had all the legends unlocked. This game is horrible, it is absolutely horrible. The NTRA should have done a whole lot better on this game.

I had played gallop racer, which was awesome. So I decided to get NTRA because I had played xbox most often and enjoyed horse racing. But I was wrong in getting this. This game is sooo boring!! You could win races with your eyes closed, literally. It seems almost impossible to lose, the breeding isnt that fun, and pretty much the whole game itself isnt that fun. I was expecting a lot more from this game. So take my advice and get one of the Gallop Racer games for Playstation, they are way better.

I liked this game a lot, I liked Gallop Racer too but it was too hard for me, I really stink at a lot of video games. Well this game is easier than Gallop Racer, but your horse can get injured really easily, and you don't even get to choose any of your horse's names. I liked racing against champions like Funny Cide and Seabiscuit but they were pretty easy to beat. If Gallop racer is too hard for you but you love horse racing games, this is a good game for you.

Gallop Racer is the accepted leader for horse racing games, but being a Japanese franchise, it lacks some of the authentic feel of American thoroughbred racing (e.g. the whole "amusement park" setting, a lackluster wagering system, etc.). I had hopes that this game would make up for those shortcomings since it was sponsored by the NTRA. And while the atmosphere may be much more familiar to North American racing fans, the game unfortunately falls woefully short in gameplay and lasting appeal.

The two primary downfalls are the game's simplicity and redundancy. Simplicity in that there is no challenge at all, either in single races where any mudder can beat an all-time great or in the stable mode where within only a few weeks you'll be flush with winnings and able to breed the finest horses available. Simplicity also in the races themselves - there is very little player interaction beyond some timed button mashing. What should be the centerpiece of the experience feels more like a mini-game added at the last minute. There are other frustrations with the races as well, such as no variety in the camera angles, no ability to look back at your competitors during the race, and no replays at all after the fact.

The redundancy is showcased in the stable mode. What should have been the key driver for replayability instead feels like a treadmill of tasks. You simply cycle through breed, train, enter, wager, race over and over again. It feels very repetitive by the third cycle.

On the plus side, wagering is realistic and robust, complete with tutorials. The fact that it's the most complete aspect of the game leads my cynical side to believe that the entire title is simply an advertisement to get people to the track. This suspicion is further bolstered by the fact that you can't opt out of races that your stable isn't competing in - the game wants you to handicap, wager, and watch each go-round.

All in all, this title feels like a PDA or PSP game - something decent for killing time at the airport while on a layover. But as a console game, it lacks enough that anyone would hard-pressed to spend much time in front of it given the other options.

Other people have said that this game sucks. It sure doesn't. They are wrong. First of all i think that you have to be a horse lover to enjoy it. Some people said that they are horse racing fans but you have to love horses all together. The racing part is the best part of the whole game. The horses look real. You get to choose your horses training and you get to breed other horses. Another good thing about this game is that when you breed horses the horse just appears in your stable. I have a computer horse racing game that is similiar to this game except in that game you have to wait a year for foal to be born and then you have to wait until it is old enough to race (2 years old). I reccomend this game to horse fans and if you happen to love horse racing too like me then you will definetly love this game.

This game is okay. I mean, Gallop racer is a million times better. But this gam is kinda cool. But when you breed horses , they are either 2 or 3 years old.And you can't breed YOUR horses. You breed someone elses. Plus, your horse injures itself AL OF THE TIME!!! It drives me crazy.